More

Twin Toddlers Reunited With Parents After Dropped Off At Wrong House

Mekhi and Makayia Nash, twin toddlers, were believed to have been abandoned at a home in Englewood, but police learned they were dropped off from daycare at the wrong home, apparently by the husband of the daycare provider. (Nash family photo)

Updated 02/12/12 – 11:11 a.m.

CHICAGO (CBS) — Imagine expecting your kids to come home from day care, but not seeing them for more than a day.

That’s what happened to two Englewood parents, who were reunited with their twin toddlers about 26 hours after the kids were supposed to have been dropped off at home by a daycare provider.

There were initial reports that the kids were abandoned Friday night, but the family said that is not the case. They said a daycare worker dropped the 2-year-old twins off at the wrong house.

“Who really drops off kids with another kid when you have a business? When you’re a daycare provider? I mean, you really just honk the horn and kick them out?” their father Michael Nash said.

That’s exactly what witnesses said happened to his 2-year-old boy and girl, Mekhi and Makayia on Friday. Their family said their daycare was supposed to drop them off at home at 71st Street and Union Avenue at around 7 p.m. Friday

But witness said a man driving a white minivan rolled up to a house near 71st Street and Normal Avenue instead and put the kids out, leaving them with a 15-year-old boy outside the home.

Eyewitness Chiquita Rattler said the driver seemed to be in a hurry.

“It started snowing very, very badly, so he was, like, swearing and stuff … and he shoved the kids to the little boy and he just pulled off,” Rattler said.

The 15-year-old took the toddlers inside and called police.

“He was bum-rushed with the kids. He really, he was dumbfounded. He didn’t know exactly what to do,” the boy’s mother, Gloria Kincaide said.

The toddlers’ parents said, after hours of calling around to find their kids,
a relative saw their photos on Facebook, along with reports they’d been abandoned.

It was enough to bring tears to their mother’s eyes.

“Why? When you could have just picked up the phone and called? It’s not like they don’t have my number,” Lanicka Taylor said.

The children were returned to their parents around 9 p.m. Saturday.

Nash said he believes the daycare owner’s husband is the person who dropped them off at the wrong house.

The Illinois Department of Children and Family Services confirmed they are investigating.

The daycare owner would not comment, referring questions to her attorney, although she would not provide the lawyer’s name.